Can Finance Be A Tool for Good?
In this episode of The Great Simplification, Nate Hagens is joined by Matthew Monahan, co-founder of the nonprofit Ma Earth, to explore the emerging field of regenerative finance.
Show Notes
Matthew digs into why top-down, siloed, and low-trust funding systems keep capital from reaching frontline communities, and how tools like open protocols, decentralized data commons, and blockchains might (with healthy consideration) help coordinate trust and resourcing at scale. Matthew also discusses Ma Earth’s collective crowdfunding platform that pairs philanthropic dollars with community fundraising for grassroots land and ecological projects – from mangrove restoration in the Pacific to a farmer's cooperative for war amputees in the Congo – and how anyone can become involved.
Topics
- 0:00 Why Money Shapes Change
- 0:34 Introduction
- 3:39 What Funding Misses
- 8:36 Defining Regenerative Finance
- 13:12 Three System Breakdowns
- 17:22 Ma Earth and Certified Platform
- 21:34 Round Three Funding Process
- 25:08 Project Highlights
- 28:11 Building Trust and Data Commons
- 32:15 Crypto Skepticism
- 39:09 Bottom Up Path to Regeneration
- 44:31 Scaling Tools Beyond Philanthropy
- 50:16 Avoiding Commodification Traps
- 53:51 Get Involved
- 59:30 Personal Advice for the Metacrisis
- 1:02:30 Magic Wand Question
- 1:06:34 Credits
